I can’t tell you how many times this mantra has popped into my head this month. It started in Singapore, the whisper about lines and light. And almost every time I pick up a camera to take an image since then that’s all I think, all I see. The lines and the light.

Maybe it’s because it’s been a crazy month. Away more than home. No time to stop and think, no time to breathe. Instead of deep contemplation, I experience the world. I do. I photograph.

And I boil it down to the essentials: lines and light. That’s all we really have to work with.

This is an interesting Photo-Heart Connection for me this month. I literally could have chosen almost any photograph I’ve taken, because this mantra was in my head for most of them. Getting home from our Spring Break trip to the California Redwoods yesterday afternoon, I didn’t even know how to begin approaching the Photo-Heart Connection for March. I have been working my way through piles of laundry, trying to transfer photographs, and getting ready for a very busy week following a very busy month. But this morning, I woke up with my “It’s all lines and light” mantra in my head and I knew that was it. My Photo-Heart Connection this month is about cutting it down to the essentials. In my photographs, in my life. That’s what has to happen sometimes. Sometimes there are periods of intense doing to feed the thinking that will come later. Right now I’m focused on lines and light. I’ll look back and pull the meaning out of that later, when I’m not so busy. I always do.

This month’s photograph, by the way, is from the Botanic Gardens in Singapore. From the Orchid Gardens, actually. I was more interested in the fantastic lines and light in these leaves than the unique, colorful flowers blooming everywhere.

Whoever you are
whatever you are
start with that,
whether salt
of the earth
or only
white sugar.
— Alice Walker

I picked up a sort-of new book this morning, Open Mind: Women’s Daily Inspiration for Becoming Mindful. After finishing Sarah Ban Breathnach’s Simple Abundance in 2010 I have been searching for another “daily meditation” type of book that would inspire me through the year. I’m terrible at reading these types of books daily, actually. I tend to pick them up every so often and read a week’s worth of entries, if they capture my attention. Some never stick with me at all. So I started this new book in early January but hadn’t kept up with it.

I found myself reaching for it this morning, and the quote above is where I started. Appropriate, no? It was as if the book was saying, “I forgive you, don’t worry about reading me daily, you’ll get what you need.”

I took today’s message to heart. Start wherever you are, with who you are, and move forward. We can all change from there. If we don’t acknowledge our starting point, accept where and who we are in this moment, are we really able to make fundamental changes in our lives? Will we see the good of ourselves in the future, after the change, if we don’t see the good in ourselves today?

We may not yet be where we want to be, the “salt of the earth” as Ms. Walker calls it, but there is value, still, in where we are, even as “white sugar.”

Whether it’s in your photography or your life, start today by accepting where you are. Spend a moment to appreciate who you are, right here and right now. Acknowledge the value that already resides within you.

That’s what I’m doing this morning. Maybe tomorrow I’ll work my way onward and outward. Today appreciating myself for where I am, with all of my quirks and imperfections, is enough.

Sometimes, when you go out to photograph, instead of you finding an image, an image finds you. Unexpected, unbidden, it calls for you to capture it with the camera. It begs you to pin it down, within the frame.

This is one of the things I love about photography. This is why I like to wander around, camera in hand. I never know what I will find. I never know what will jump out at me. The scene that originally caught my eye usually gets transformed into something different. I get to see the world in new ways. The world begs me to see it in new ways, to frame and reframe it.

I wasn’t looking for this image, but it needed to be captured when I found it. I wonder why?

Lately I’ve been noticing lines in my photographs. Not just any lines, but lines that run in opposition to each other. In Today’s Exploring with a Camera, we are going to explore Opposing Lines. You can join in the exploration over the next two weeks, by adding your images to the link tool at the end of this post.

Lines are a fantastic tool to move the viewer’s eye through a photograph. When there is a dominant line, the eye wants to follow it through. We can use this to great effect in our compositions, drawing the eye to a specific point or subject by setting up leading lines. I’ve touched on this topic before, in Exploring with a Camera: Linear Perspective.

What happens when there is more than one line? If the lines converge to a point, there is a flow to the photograph, leading the viewer’s eye to the convergence point. If the lines are in opposition, however, there is a dynamic tension that is set up in the image. Your eye moves from one place, only to move back in the other direction. This tension is fascinating to me, and is what I’ve been exploring with Opposing Lines in my photographs.

The dynamic of opposing lines in an image first caught my eye with this image, from Old Colorado City, Colorado. The perspective in the mural leads you in one direction, from left to right in the photograph. The direction of the bricks, however, leads you in the opposite direction: right to left. This dynamic of opposing lines was set up by the angle of the shot. If it had been straight on, the bricks would have been straight and would have served as a backdrop rather than a key element as an opposing line.

Mural Lines

In the image below, the lines of the brick wall and the lines of the shadows from a nearby tree are in opposition. How does your eye move through this photo? The perspective, again created by standing at an angle to the brick wall, creates the opposing lines. The lines make an otherwise simple image more interesting. The lead-in image, of the stairway and shadow, provides a similar dynamic of opposing lines using shadows.

Lines of Brick and Shadow

I loved the lines created by the architecture in Chicago, and this image of reflected buildings sets up an interesting opposing-line dynamic. Without the reflection, the image would be a simple repeating grid of windows. With the reflection, there is a strong diagonal created by the buildings along the lines of the side of the windows. That diagonal is opposed by the thicker lines of the bottom of the windows. I find the opposing lines in the image more interesting than a standard view of buildings against sky.

Reflecting Chicago

Opposing lines aren’t just found on the outside of buildings, in this image from the Art Institute of Chicago, the reflection of the beam creates an opposing line. There is not as much tension in this image as those discussed previously, since the reflection serves to connect the two beams into a zig-zag. This leads your eye through from beam to beam. The opposing lines of the window panes makes a stronger dynamic, leading your eye back up to the top of the image after you zig-zag down.

Down and Up Again

Shadows, reflections and angled perspectives are all great ways to create opposing lines in your images. What other ways can you find to set up this dynamic? Take a look at your archives and go out exploring to find opposing lines. You can link up below, through 17 November. I can’t wait to see what you find!

FYI - Links will be moderated. Please use a permalink, ensure that your linked image is on topic, and include a link back to this site in your post through the Exploring with a Camera button (available here) or a text link. Thanks!

Downtown Chicago is all about lines. Straight, angled, and sometimes curvy lines. Lines soaring to the sky and back down again. For my few days in Chicago last week I was in the downtown area the whole time. In between the convention I attended, I managed to take in a few sights… an architecture cruise on the river, Millennium Park, and the Art Institute. I would have loved to spend more time there, getting to know the city. I barely scratched the tourist surface. The bottom line – I’ll just have to go back!

Today’s image is one of the first edited with my brand new toy – Lightroom 3. My birthday is today and this software is now installed on my computer as a birthday gift from my family. I have had this growing urge to learn something new in the last couple of months and Lightroom came out as the winner as I looked into software. Apart from the overwhelming nature of learning a new program, I can tell this is going to be fun! You will likely be seeing all sorts of crazy edits here, as I learn the software and play around. Like any new technique, I’ll go overboard and then will settle into my style again eventually. That’s just the way I learn.

I can also tell, I haven’t been doing enough of this – playing and spending time on my art. I haven’t found a good balance yet between all of the things I want to do in life as an artist/engineer/mom/friend, and I tend to overwhelm myself with “to do” lists. Finding balance is something that will be a big focus for me in the coming days and weeks. My birthday reminds me I’m a Libra, Bilancia in Italian, and the scales are my symbol.

Change is coming. Not just because it’s a new year for me. Not just because I have the new website (still!) in the works. Not just because of the season. Change is coming for me because I need to find a new balance point. The scales have tipped too far.

As I go through teaching Find Your Eye, I am following my students in their assessments of their eye and rediscovering mine all over again. It’s been a wonderful experience. I’ve been able to define my style even further, to state that my best images have an element of line, color or texture. Yesterday’s images were about line, devoid of color. Today I’ll show you more of the dance center Kirstin took me to – the inside is all about line and color together!